Street signs: Timely exit in IDBI Bank

Debt mutual funds have a total exposure of Rs 7,400 cr to IDBI Bank bonds

One of the top fund houses in the country was saved by the skin of its teeth in the IDBI Bank papers. The fund house, which had a exposure of Rs 1,700 crore to bonds of the state-owned lender, cut a bulk of its holding just a few days before credit rating agencies downgraded the bank's rating. “Portfolio holdings are released on a monthly basis. While our name is featuring as one of the top fund houses with exposure to IDBI Bank, we drastically cut our holdings before the downgrade,” said an official with the fund house. Fund houses holding the bonds suffered mark-to-market losses of up to 20 per cent following the downgrade. Debt mutual funds have a total exposure of Rs 7,400 crore to IDBI Bank bonds. 

Chandan Kishore Kant   

Sebi whip for flouting of women director norm 

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is planning action against companies and stock exchanges for flouting the rule on women directors. According to the Companies Act, all listed companies need to have at least one woman director on their boards. Stock exchanges are responsible for the norm, which came into effect from March 31, 2016. While exchanges have been imposing penal action against those companies with no women directors, Sebi, the capital market regulator, wants them to do more. “We are not satisfied with exchanges for failing to act against companies with no women directors. Sebi is looking into the issue,” said a senior Sebi official. According  to the Indian Boards Database, there are more than 50 companies without a single woman director on their boards.

Shrimi Choudhary

I-bankers made to run pillar to post 

The Department of Public Asset Management (Dipam), the government body in charge of disinvestment, recently invited investment bankers for stake sale in seven listed public sector units (PSUs), including big names like Indian Oil. A lot of banks evinced interest to bag the large mandate. Most bankers, however, had a tough time navigating through the process. “Dipam scheduled the presentations for all seven PSUs on a single day, and there wasn’t enough time and we ended up dashing in and out of meetings, making one presentation after another,” said a banker, who was part of the process.

Pavan Burugula